After Party [Chapter XIII]

[Raal]

The demon stood up, turning to silently admire his handiwork in fixing the castle. It looked exactly how it was before Vulture attacked. Raal didn't get too prideful, as the rest of the city was in ruins. He still had a lot to do. Unfortunately, his powers were limited, and needed a cooldown period.

"I am very much capable of repairing the entire city in less than an hour, but I need a minimum twenty-four hours of non-stop sleep... or Foci Crystals are found."

If a Foci Crystal was found, he'd use it to reinforce his own mind and speed up the downtime necessary so he could get to work faster. The sad part was, that the crystals were uncommon. They only grew where heavy concentrations of psionic energy were present. Where to find some?

[Silver Eyes]

"You forgot? You are my teacher and one of mother's closest friends."

"Different universes. Remember? They were all opened to each other."

"It's easy to forget that detail."

"Biggest thing we really need, is a resistance ourselves. But yeah, contact them let them know that Vulture's army will be coming back their way and that they'll be seeing more troops running about."

"Resistance?" Rowen stepped forward, but was pulled back by his elder sibling's strong hand. The Huntress gave him a look of disapproval, shook her head, and he frowned. "I'll just resume healing. Don't mind me."

"These little guys could use some." Argus pointed at the children sitting by him, and let Rowen use his magic to stitch up their wounds.

"Once you're done we need to head out," Jenna adjusted the leather strap that held her quiver and shifted the position of her bow to make travel easier, "after we find some supplies if there's any that we can purchase."

Rowen rolled his eyes, grunted, and resumed his work.

"Well, speaking of this resistance, when should we get started? There's a lot to do just to begin it."

[Yuna]

Yuna watched with interest as the castle started repairing itself it seemed, but she knew better than that. Her eyes going over to Raal, being able to tell from the look on his face that it was him doing it. That was amazing, she's never seen anything like it. The High Summoner rejoined the conversation when the others started talking about a Hallowton resistance. "The people here are passive. They choose to run and hide rather than stand and fight. How are you going to make a resistance out of that?"

[Hotaru]

The Soldier of Silence refrained from commenting on several key factors, not having much to say anyway as her involvement would be limited to the rebuilding of the city so she could ship out in search for any signs of her own world. Looking at Raal the Soldier would ask, "Would the twenty-four hour nap be before or after you repaired the city?"

[.:Amilia:.]

"Okay, these people can be as passive as they want, that doesn't stop someone from driving a tank over them or crashing a plane into an orphanage. I think it's right time they stop being passive and a couple of them take up arms to protect a place they call home."

Arix put both of his hands on his hips, "It's just not normal to act all hippy like when someones marched a goddamn army into your city. Not to mention if none of us were here this place would be flat and everyone would be zombies or fancy ornaments on that horrible music playing blimp."

[Queen Lori]

"No time to lose then." Lori started to head for the reconstructed castle as she spoke. "When you escorted the rest of the civilians back to the city have them sent to the castle." She walked up the castle steps and opened the entrance going inside. Regardless of what the majority here thought about violence there had to be at least one person willing to stand and fight for this place. Otherwise what was the point of it all? To move from one spot to another and hope that this time someone wouldn't force them into a fight? Lori couldn't live that way and there had to be at least one other native in this city that felt the same way as she did.

[Ayen]

"I don't think you understand. None of this will matter if the Netherrealm takes over the realm. We have to stop them now!"

“I don't think you understand.”

"Does it look like we're in any condition to help you? Does it!? We burn resources to help you then we will have nothing to protect ourselves against the Vulture and that will be just one more city to stand unopposed against the Netherrealm!"

“That's it, Lori. Let it all out it's not good to bottle your emotions with all smiles.”

"Look, I'd love to help you, but that's impossible right now. When the time comes, I'll be dragged into your war, until then, the answer is no. But the Queen speaks the truth. This place is in no condition to lend you support yet. I mean... I'm sure you could persuade me."

“Gross,” commented Sazan underneath her breath.

“This guy's a player,” whispered Ayen to Yuna and Saturn. “Best stay behind me.”

"But I'm here to stay until I know this place wont be wiped off the map."

"Besides, if Chloe told you about us, that means you probably retreated to Jherrazad from Moon Valley, which means the Empress is likely to be the next person to face this mystery army. Knowing her... she could hold them off entirely on her own if she wanted to."

"If that was the case Chloe wouldn't have insisted we need help."

“And we can't help you, what part of that aren't you getting? When we can lend a hand we will until then maybe you can rest a little easier knowing that you have backup should you fail to hold the demon army back.”

“I could help her rest easy...”

“Can I stitch his mouth close?”

"Very well."

Sazan and Ayen watched Superwoman take her leave, also surprised to see how easily she had given up on trying to recruit them to her cause.

“All right, who's all staying to help with repairs?”

"I'll stay. To help rebuild and give Hallowton a fighting chance. I don't feel right leaving you like this. The faster we get this place up and running, the faster you can help Superwoman."

"Agreed. We're not going anywhere until this place is rebuilt anyway."

“Third. Wouldn't be much of a friend if I bailed on the new queen now.”

"I don't even know where to start."

“I'd start with anti-aircraft missiles.”

“The castle would be a good place to–”

Sazan turned and saw the castle was already rebuilt.

“Start...”

Ayen laughed.

"I am very much capable of repairing the entire city in less than an hour, but I need a minimum twenty-four hours of non-stop sleep... or Foci Crystals are found."

"Would the twenty-four hour nap be before or after you repaired the city?"

“It ain't easy being psychic.”

"You should probably start by getting the people back into town. From there they can give you ideas on how to proceed and what needs to be done."

"Agreed. For now, we focus on rebuilding, but we then need to take the fight to General Vulture as soon as possible. If we allow his invasion to continue, every battlefield we meet him on will end up like this. Or worse."

“It can get worse?”

"I think our next move should be to make contact with the resistance in Isafaro and establish a proper liaison. They've been fighting the good fight against the General much longer than us, and their knowledge of our enemy will be invaluable. When we finally make our play, it should be with guerrilla tactics; strikes against Isafaro's military-industrial production to deny the war machine its fuel."

“I thought you and Zira already contacted the Resistance in your last trip to Isafaro?”

“That shouldn't be too hard to set up. Word around the water cooler is the Resistance is growing more and more desperate by the day. Even has a vampire as one of their generals.”

“And what, pray tell, is wrong with vampires?”

“Nothing. But letting someone into your posse that feeds on your species without so much as a background check doesn't exactly make you the brightest.”

"I think we should let the resistance be, let them go ahead and keep distracting the Vulture bro, we need to make this place more secure. Gonna need able bodied troops, battle training, all that shit. Biggest thing we really need, is a resistance ourselves. But yeah, contact them let them know that Vulture's army will be coming back their way and that they'll be seeing more troops running about."

"The people here are passive. They choose to run and hide rather than stand and fight. How are you going to make a resistance out of that?"

"Okay, these people can be as passive as they want, that doesn't stop someone from driving a tank over them or crashing a plane into an orphanage. I think it's right time they stop being passive and a couple of them take up arms to protect a place they call home. It's just not normal to act all hippy like when someones marched a goddamn army into your city. Not to mention if none of us were here this place would be flat and everyone would be zombies or fancy ornaments on that horrible music playing blimp."

“I agree. These hippies need to lay off the dope for a couple of weeks and start cracking some skulls if they want to survive being right next door to a technological juggernaut. They're lucky they dragged so much ass in taking them out or Hallowton would've been under Vulture control a long time ago.”

“If these people care about their homes then they will fight. There's a difference between violence and defense.”

"No time to lose then."

“Where she going?”

"When you escorted the rest of the civilians back to the city have them sent to the castle."

“On it.”

Sazan gave Michael a kiss and excused herself from the others as she went back to the tunnels to escort the civilians back to their home.

“Hey Lori, wait up!”

Ayen took off into a run, feeling good enough to move on his own now as he slowed down once he caught up to Lori.

“How are you holding up?”

[Raal]

Raal looked at Sailor Saturn, "Before. It would have to be before. I can't do it right now. If I did, I'll knock myself unconscious."

Ayen had hit the nail on the head. It isn't easy being psychic. The demon sat back down on the step and went back into a trance. He quetly mapped out the city continuously, reminding himself that many buildings still needed to be fixed. If that Vulture guy came back during this period, the city's done. It'll be rubble. Not to mention he'd be showing off his terrible taste in music while destroying the place.

[Yuna]

Yuna of course couldn't argue with Arix's points. She found it strange that the citizens of Hallowton refused to fight even when under attack by a hostile force but the High Summoner was still concerned with how many of them would continue to refuse regardless and thus make forming a resistance group more difficult. All she could do now was hope as she followed Lori and Ayen both into the castle.

[Hotaru]

Saturn said nothing more and followed behind Queen Lori, Ayen and High Summoner Yuna as they made their way inside the castle. She saw little advantages in waiting twenty-four hours to begin repairs but it wasn't the Soldier of Silence decision to make. She caught up with the others just in time to hear Ayen's question to Lori and raised an eyebrow at the boy. "What kind of question is that?"

[Queen Lori]

How are you holding up? "Had better days."

Lori stepped into the throne room to see everything was brand new, as if it had never been destroyed in the first place. The only thing left was the body of her mother whom was still laying down on the ground with burn marks on her face. "H-help me move the body." Lori barely got that out as she moved over to her mother and waited for one of the others to step in and help carry her out before the townspeople got here.

[Ayen]

"What kind of question is that?"

“Shove off!”

"Had better days."

“I'd say. We're behind you, Lori, as long as it takes.”

"H-help me move the body."

Ayen walked over to the corpse and gently, and respectfully, lifted her up into a bridal carry and looked to the others.

“Where should I...?”

[Yuna]

"Enough, you two. Now isn't the time." The High Summoner couldn't believe that they could argue at a time like this. Yuna stayed quiet for the most part, her eyes growing wide with amazement as they entered the throne room to find everything revived. "Wow! Raal did a wonderful job. It's hard to believe that just a few minutes ago this place was..." Yuna stopped. Her eyes falling upon the body of Lori's mother, the Queen of Hallowton, causing her to become silent as a saddened expression overtook her features.

[.:Amilia:.]

Arix dawdled around still at the base of the stairs as most of everyone went away. He sat down again and rested his elbow on his knee and his head into his hand thoughtfully. The thought of building an army never occurred to him as very Arix like behavior, but he may have his hand in it.

"I might end up raising swordsmen to protect what's theres," he said mostly to himself but in general.

[Hotaru]

"As long as it takes?" Saturn wasn't so sure she liked being included in that 'we'. While she understood and sympathized with the queen's situation this still wasn't her business, and this still wasn't her world. No, she was sure of it. Nothing has changed. "I'll stay until the ships are ready to sail, after that I can commit to you no longer. I cannot and do not speak for these two, nor do they speak for me."